A basaltic prisms waterfall, in Huasca, a natural phenomenon just outside town that attracts many visitors. (Photo: Diego Delso/Creative Commons)
Hidden in the forests north of Mexico City lies Huasca de Ocampo, Hidalgo, the vanguard of the wildly successful Pueblos Mágicos program and a regional boom in ecotourism.
By its nature, tourism takes an already-existing ambiance and commercializes it for outsiders. In the case of Huasca, tourists come to experience quaint stone and wood buildings with red roofs surrounded by hectares of pine forest on craggy mountains, repackaged for weekend convenience.
In 2000, the federal government decided to create Pueblos Mágicos to give some of the many near-ghost towns in Mexico a chance to cut in on the country’s huge tourism industry. Originally, the rules stated that the town in question had to preserve something special in architecture, history or cultures; not be in an area already promoted (like coastal destinations); and have infrastructure such as roads, restaurants and lodging.
It was a huge risk for the tiny town to get that infrastructure created, but the rewards were phenomenal: Huasca was the first to be considered and accepted as a Pueblo Mágico, and in 2001, it was promoted through federal tourism agencies as one of 30 towns to receive the designation.
Like all Pueblos Magicos, the charm of visiting Huasca is experiencing an older Mexico. But the town has adjusted to tourism and caters to thousands of visitors on the weekends. (Lev Levin/Shutterstock)
In essence, Huasca was everything a Pueblo Mágico was supposed to be — historic, charming, very rural and with a number of other attractions outside the town proper, including two haciendas, a pristine waterfall featuring basaltic prisms and plenty of stunning nature sites only slightly further afield.
Huasca had been desperately poor since the mining industry collapsed at the end of the 19th century. The mountains north of Pachuca were a rich source of silver and other minerals for several centuries, even spurring English immigration here in the 19th century. But like just about all mining towns, bust followed boom, and by the 2,000s, the town lay forgotten.
It is hard to overstate the effect the program has had on Huasca and the now 131 other Pueblos Mágicos. Some of Huasca’s old lifestyle can still be seen here on weekdays, with locals going about their normal business, but weekends and holidays are quite different. The town’s narrow cobblestone streets are jammed with cars and pedestrians with shops, restaurants and street vendors everywhere catering to them.
Huasca’s success as a Pueblo Mágico made inclusion in the program a major priority for many of Mexico’s states. Hidalgo quickly got the nearby (and better-known) town of Real de Monte on the list in 2004, and later Mineral el Chico in 2011.
Huasca’s small Gnome Museum won’t make you a believer, but it’s fun for kids and is near the historic Hacienda San Miguel Regla. (Photo: 2ALG/Creative Commons)
The inclusion of the other towns built on what Huasca had started, with the state bundling them together thematically to promote the region’s shared history, culture and natural beauty, forming what the government calls the Mountain Tourism Corridor, extending from the state capital of Pachuca to the entrance of the El Chico National Park, a natural reserve conserving 2,750 hectares of central Mexican mountain forest.
The route also promotes other communities such as Epazoyucan, noted for its obsidian, and Cerro de las Navajas, Omitlán de Juárez with its Peña de Zumate and Bandola Falls, local commercial center Atotonilco el Grande, and the thermal springs in Santa María Amajac.
Huasca already had a few ecotourism businesses when it won Pueblo Mágico status. But the plethora there today is almost all due to the designation. These businesses follow the Mexican idea of ecotourism, with omnipresent zipline and paintball (known as “Gotcha” in Mexico) fields, hiking, guided tours, mountain biking and horseback riding.
What is striking as you drive in and around the towns is the proliferation of cabins (from rustic to sumptuous) and second homes. The seemingly pristine forest and quaint towns are the initial draws, but visitors — mostly from the Mexico City region — demand a certain level of entertainment and amenities.
In the mood for a cabin in the woods, but glamping’s more your style? The Pinochueco campsite has unique treehouse cabins that have been featured in Vogue and Time Out México. (Pinochueco)
There hasn’t been much quality study of the economic and cultural impact of Pueblo Mágico status. The federal government released one study in 2021 that indicates tourism brought in 8.16 million pesos to Huasca, with a similar 6.94 million for Mineral el Chico for the previous year. But Real del Monte, which is larger and easier to get to, brings in 85.52 million pesos.
All of the above are dwarfed by income figures in other Pueblos Mágicos. Studies on Pueblos Mágicos often exclude Huasca and give only vague indications that the resulting tourism has its pros and cons.
There is no doubt that money is the main benefit, and the tourism may lead locals to value their architectural, natural and cultural attractions more. But it’s also obvious that the economic benefit has not been equally distributed.
Despite all the development in Huasca due to its Magical Town status, the number of permanent residents (who would pay taxes) has not gone up, and the types of jobs generated are not generally well-paying. Over-visitation has damaged architecture and natural resources, and Huasca recently had trouble supplying enough water during peak periods.
One of other Pueblos Mágicos in Hidalgo’s Mountain Tourism Corridor is Mineral del Chico, which boasts the stunning landscape at El Chico National Park. (Photo: Rafael Saldaña/Creative Commons)
Also, the feel of the three Hidalgo Pueblos Mágicos has changed, a consideration that keeps some communities in other parts of Mexico from pursuing the designation.
Magical Towns can be a great introduction to rural Mexico, especially any of the first 50 or so to get the designation. Visiting Huasca is an easy reminder of woodland vacations from further north (or, for some, a reminder of why you live south).
Inside the historic center, you can find picturesque strolling and fine dining. For the more outdoorsy, venture to the outskirts. A quick Google search will turn up numerous options.
Political pressure has led to some questionable additions to the Pueblo Mágicos program in later years, but Huasca remains the blueprint of everything that the initiative promised — and in this case, delivered.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
A Saudi Arabia resident removing his license plates in 1983 at the Qatar border. After a Saudi newspaper printed a photo of cars with Saudi plates outside a bar in Qatar, a short-lived law required residents to leave theirs behind when crossing into the UAE.
Qatar, Qatar, Qatar! We see the word everywhere we look right now. But when we hear it spoken, it sounds like Cotter, Cutter, Gutter and, in Mexico, Catarrh.
These pronunciations are common, but not exactly authentic.
I’m not an Arabic speaker, but after living in Saudi Arabia for 13 years, I did learn how to pronounce a Q, the letter qāf.
That Q has to come from down low in the back of your throat where you make a g, but you have to turn the g into a sort of click. Just say, “got tar.” You start off with a guttural click, and you’ve got it — sort of.
The writer and friends crossed from Saudi Arabia into Qatar via a land border between the two countries in southern Qatar. (Map: Nations Online Project)
Now, let’s go back to the year 1983, when I was living in the Saudi Arabian city of Dhahran. If you think pronouncing Qatar correctly is difficult, good luck with Dhahran!
When my neighbor Kevin asked my advice on a good place for us to go camping, I said, “Let’s go to Qatar; I have no idea at all what we’ll find there.”
Kevin had a big camper, so we loaded it up with provisions and his two young boys, and off we began on a 290-kilometer journey to Dhahran. It was beastly hot, without a cloud in the sky, which was white rather than blue.
After three hours, the bleak, desolate landscape was broken by a small building behind a sign saying: “Exit Visa Inspection.”
There was a not-very-big window in front of the building, but we couldn’t see it because dozens of men were crowded around it, all of them attempting — at the same time — to push a handful of passports into the same small opening.
As the concept of queuing up did not exist in that part of the world in 1983, Kevin and I had to squeeze in among the sweating bodies and attempt to jam our passports into the same little window.
“This is why Bedouins wear sandals,” the writer is thinking at this moment.
Several hours later — having received permission to exit the country — we proceeded up the road to the actual border with Qatar, which is a flat peninsula some 600 kilometers long.
A Saudi border guard approached us, and Kevin rolled down the window, allowing precious cool air to escape into the shimmering desert.
“Where you go?”
“Qatar.”
“Mushkila (problem). You leave Saudi Arabia, okay, but license plates no.”
We were tempted to ask “why?” but after years of living in the Middle East, we knew better.
“How can we drive in Qatar with no license plates?”
“You take chance. Maybe lucky.”
We got out of the vehicle and proceeded to remove the license plates. We handed them to the guard, who gave us a receipt and assured us that the plates would be securely locked up in a safe.
Then we rolled across the border into Qatar, where we found another desolate building with another tiny window where you had to stand out in the merciless sun waiting to get your passport stamped.
A younger John Pint drinking from a self-cooling water bag while enjoying Qatar’s climate. “The taste was disgusting,” he said.
And then, at last, there we were inside Qatar — but there was nothing to see!
There was no town, no shops, no people… In every direction, the flat desert bled off into the distance — not a tree to be seen, just plenty of nada.
“Isn’t this fun, boys?” quipped Kevin to his utterly bored kids.
Sure that we would soon see a change in landscape, we drove on, but now each of us began to have second thoughts about driving without license plates.
“If they stop us, they might confiscate the camper,” said Kevin. “They might force us to apply for Qatari plates,” I contributed, “and that could take forever.”
“Why ever did they take our license plates away?” lamented the boys.
It was only after our return to Saudi Arabia that we got an answer to that question: the rumor mill revealed a bizarre story behind what, by then, I was calling “License Plate Lunacy.”
Saudi Arabia surely has the world’s strictest dry laws. You can’t even find rubbing alcohol in a pharmacy. This has motivated some Saudis to drive across the border to another country just to get a swallow of booze.
One day, a newspaper article appeared that focused on an alleged establishment of ill repute in one of the Emirates and a photo clearly showed that all the cars parked in front of the place had Saudi license plates! This caused a scandal, which the government resolved not by going after the offenders but by forbidding the export of Saudi license plates.
Kevin, his boys and I were among the victims of this curious law, and after mulling over the consequences of driving without license plates, we decided to cut short our not-so-delightful visit to Qatar and to return to Saudi Arabia.
To give an idea of how different Qatar looked back when the writer visited, this is a photo of the Sheraton Grand Doha, located in Doha, in the 1980s. (Photo: Internet)
We went back to the border.
“Where have you been?” asked the guard.
“Qatar,” we replied. “What a place!”
The god smiled. “What you bring back?”
“Nothing.”
“We will see. Everything out!”
Fortunately, it was now getting dark as we removed every single item from the camper and placed all of it on the ground. Doing this in the scorching sun would have been murder.
This inspection took hours. But nothing haram (forbidden) — such as liquor-filled candies, brewer’s yeast, girly magazines, bibles or Christmas-tree ornaments — was found.
“Kwais (okay),” said the guard. “Yalla! (You can go).”
“But what about our license plates?” said Kevin, handing him the receipt.
The same spot in Doha today.
“Digiga (a minute),” said the guard.
An hour later, he came back. “License plates in safe. Safe locked.”
As time dragged by, we learned that the key to the safe was in the hands of someone named Abdullah — but where had he gone?
We attempted to sleep, but the heat and humidity were unbearable, even at 2 a.m.
At last, Abdullah turned up, and as the merciless sun rose in the sky, we proceeded back down the road to Dhahran… with impossible-to-forget memories of… (prepare that click in the back of your throat)… Qatar.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on hisblog.
Mergon CEO Pat Beirne (far left) and Coahuila Governor Miguel Riquelme (center) along with other company and state officials at the Mergon inaugeration. (Gobierno de Coahuila)
An Irish plastics company and a United States medical technology company opened new plants in northern Mexico this week.
Ireland’s Mergon Group announced that it had opened phase 1 of a 15 million euro (US $15.8 million) investment near Saltillo, Coahuila, while Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) inaugurated a US $38.6 million manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Baja California.
Mergon, which makes plastic components for companies such as BMW, Rivian and Xerox, said in a statement Thursday that it expects to create 150 new jobs in the first year of operations at its new facility in Ramos Arzipe, a municipality that borders Saltillo to the north.
“Over the last decade Mergon has become a key design and manufacturing partner for light weight air management systems and clear vision systems to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in the US. These companies are forecasting strong growth over the coming years and Mergon is helping them achieve their vision,” the company said.
“The establishment of Mergon Mexico is a strong indicator of future growth for Mergon’s North American operations. A major influence in the selection of Coahuila State was the support of the Federal and local Coahuila State Government, as well as Coahuila’s highly skilled workforce and proximity to key customers,” Mergon said.
It added that its new “purpose-built plant” will allow it “to realize its ambitious growth plans, focusing on the automotive and industrial sectors.”
“I am very excited about the opportunities that Mergon Mexico offers us,” said Mergon CEO Pat Beirne. “We have ambitious plans to grow our North American business, and this is an integral step in achieving that.”
BD, a New Jersey-based company, said in a statement that federal and state government officials attended the opening of its new facility in the Baja California border city on Wednesday.
BD is an American multinational medical technology company. (Shutterstock)
The plant “will produce devices and technologies that help improve medication safety within health care settings,” the company said.
“The new 15,775-square-meter facility is expected to add 500 new jobs over the next two years. Phase I of the facility will create 75 jobs that will be responsible for manufacturing automated dispensing cabinets that health care professionals use to dispense medications to patients. The devices will be exported to countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.”
Julio Duclos, BD’s top executive in Mexico, noted that the plant in Tijuana is the company’s 12th manufacturing facility in Mexico.
The new factory “is a testament to our commitment to Mexico and the strong relationship we’ve built in communities across the country over the past 65 years,” he said.
“The 17,000 BD employees in Mexico are focused on producing high-quality medical devices that are used by health care providers and patients around the world. We look forward to continuing to grow in Mexico.”
Although there are security concerns in some parts of northern Mexico, the region is attractive to manufacturers due to its proximity to the United States and affordable labor costs, among other factors.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, visited Nuevo León earlier this year and is believed to be considering a municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey as the location for a new Tesla plant.
Horacio Castilleja Albarrán during his time as an active service member, left, and in 2021, right. (Sedena)
Mexico’s last World War II veteran — an army radio operator who was a member of an Air Force squadron known as the Aztec Eagles — died on Wednesday.
The Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) announced the death of Sgt. Horacio Castilleja Albarrán, who was 98. It didn’t mention a cause of death.
Castilleja, who joined the army in 1942 at the age of 18, was one of approximately 300 soldiers and Air Force members in Squadron 201, the only Mexican military unit to see active combat in World War II.
The squadron, which included about 30 pilots, fought alongside U.S. forces against the Japanese in the Philippines in 1945.
Mexico declared war on the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan in May 1942 after it lost oil ships to German submarine attacks in the Gulf of Mexico.
Squadron 201 “didn’t have a major effect on the overall outcome of the giant Pacific war 75 years ago,” The New York Times said in a 2020 article, “but by the end of the conflict, these men were hailed as valiant and deadly in their machines, beloved for their ferocity by the Filipinos and Americans alike.”
Members of the military paid tribute to Castilleja during a funeral service at a military cemetery in Mexico City on Thursday.
His contribution to the Allies’ ultimately successful World War II efforts was recognized by the Mexican military, which awarded him the “Service in the Far East” medal and the government of the Philippines, which gave him a presidential award.
“His participation in the Second World War showed the highest levels of patriotism, heroism [and] spirit of service,” Sedena said.
Residents of San Simón de la Laguna, a small town in México state, protest the detention of six community members accused of murder, who have been awaiting trial in Valle de Bravo Penitentiary since 2018. Such dysfunction in the criminal justice system contributes to high rates of impunity. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar / Cuartoscuro.com)
Impunity for serious crimes — a scourge President López Obrador says he is committed to eliminating — remains rife in Mexico.
The perpetrators of the vast majority of homicides committed between 2016 and 2021 and more than half the femicides weren’t convicted in that period, a non-governmental organization said in a new report.
Only 7.2% of homicides committed in the last six years resulted in convictions, Impunidad Cero (Zero Impunity) said in a report published Thursday, meaning that the “accumulated impunity” rate for the crime in a period in which well over 200,000 murders were recorded was 92.8%.
The organization used official data to calculate impunity rates for both homicide and femicide — the killing of a woman or girl on account of their gender.
The impunity rate for femicides during the last six years was 56.6%, meaning that only about four in ten perpetrators of that crime were arrested, convicted and sentenced in the period.
“Less than half of recorded femicide cases have concluded with a conviction since the [new accusatory] criminal justice system began operating,” Impunidad Cero said.
An average of about 10 women are killed everyday in Mexico, but only two of every 10 murders of women were classified as femicides last year.
The perpetrators of many homicides and femicides are never arrested, while suspects who are detained sometimes spend years in jail without facing trial. The failure to arrest murderers in many cases and delays in holding trials both contributed to the high impunity rates in the period analyzed by Impunidad Cero.
Mario Escobar holds missing person flyers with his daughter, Debanhi’s name and image. After Debanhi’s body was found, a femicide investigation was opened but no suspects have been detained. (File photo)
Sixteen of the 32 federal entities recorded impunity rates for homicide that were higher than the national rate in the 2016-21 period, according to the Impunidad Cero report. The rate in Oaxaca was a shocking 100%, while Morelos, Tlaxcala and Colima recorded “accumulated impunity” rates above 99%.
Oaxaca also had a 100% impunity rate for femicides, as did Tlaxcala. Chihuahua and Colima were the only other states with rates above 90%, but four others — Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero and Tabasco — had rates higher than 80%.
“One of the main causes for the alarming levels of impunity in the country is the weak capacity of authorities to investigate and solve crimes,” Impunidad Cero said.
In the introduction to its report, the organization said that “homicides and femicides are a reflection of the extreme violence that affects Mexican society.”
“Mexico is among the countries with the highest homicide rates in Latin America, with … 28 victims for every 100,000 residents. In 2021 alone, 94 victims of homicide were recorded daily, and 10 women were murdered every day. It’s the responsibility of the state to prioritize the investigation of homicides, with a gender perspective, and to impose criminal responsibilities and the corresponding convictions,” Impundidad Cero said.
A “zero impunity” segment in which a senior security official details arrests and convictions of criminals is a regular feature of López Obrador’s weekday morning press conferences, but the figures included in the Impunidad Cero report emphasize that Mexico is nowhere near close to combating its impunity problem.
Maureen Meyer, a senior official with the Washington Office on Latin America, said in August that one of the reasons why there is so much violence in Mexico is impunity.
“You can kill someone with impunity because there are no consequences,” she said.
The truck Mexican authorities seized Thursday had hundreds of coconuts that were carefully sliced open to hide fentanyl-laced pills and then reattached together. (FGR)
A load of coconuts on a truck being driven in the northern state of Sonora contained approximately 300 kilograms of pills believed to be laced with fentanyl, according to the agencies that made the seizure on Thursday.
Thousands of blue pills were found in plastic bags hidden inside hundreds of coconuts, which had been cut in half, scraped out and glued back together, a video posted by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) indicates. In one image, an officer can be seen busting open a coconut by hitting it against the ground.
Two people allegedly transporting the cargo were arrested after their truck was intercepted on a federal highway near Pitiquito, a municipality about 90 kilometers south of Mexico’s border with Arizona. The operation was conducted by several agencies both national and regional.
Few details were provided, aside from an FGR tweet stating that “approximately 300 kilograms of a substance with characteristics of fentanyl” was seized “in a truck that was transporting coconuts.” A press release from the federal office offered several pictures but few additional details.
#FGR, adscritos a la @PGR_AIC, aseguraron en Sonora aproximadamente 300 kilogramos de una sustancia con características propias del fentanilo, en un camión que transportaba cocos.
In this video federal authorities posted on Twitter, images show how the pills were hidden in coconuts.
The newspaper Reforma said the value of the seizure was “about US $60 million,” citing a price of US $200,000 per kilo given recently by Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval.
Fentanyl is “a highly addictive synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine,” according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Pills containing fentanyl are “largely made by two Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco [New Generation] Cartel (CJNG), to look identical to real prescription medications, including OxyContin, Percocet and Xanax, and they are often deadly,” the DEA says on its website.
The two cartels, “using chemicals largely sourced from China, are primarily responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in communities across the United States,” the DEA adds.
Despite being fierce rivals, the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG are getting the chemicals to produce fentanyl from the same suppliers, InSight Crime reported, referring to a report from Mexico’s National Intelligence Center cited in the Milenio newspaper.
The DEA cites figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating that 107,622 Americans died of drug poisoning in 2021, with 66% of those deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. The agency says it seized more than 20.4 million fake prescription pills in 2021.
“The pill form is very scary because they’re made to look like legitimate pharmaceuticals,” Greg Millard, an acting special agent with the DEA, told El Paso, Texas, TV station KTSM.
Mexican cartels like the Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation cartels make often-deadly fentanyl-laced pills that are difficult to distinguish from real prescription medication pills such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Xanax. (Photo: DEA)
“When people buy the pill on the street, they think they’re getting what maybe [is] a pill bought from a pharmacy prescribed by a doctor but sold on the black market,” he added. “However, they’re not. They’re getting a pill made somewhere south of the border containing fentanyl.”
The DEA conducted a laboratory study this year that found that six out of every 10 such fentanyl-laced pills contain a potentially lethal dose of the drug (an increase from four out of 10 in 2021).
“Just two milligrams of fentanyl, the small amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially deadly dose,” the agency said in its report.
Large amounts of fentanyl, meth and other drugs have been seized recently in Sonora and elsewhere. Millard told KTSM that “profit and greed are driving the Mexican drug cartels” to push fentanyl-laced pills.
“It’s easy to produce. It’s easy to get the chemicals,” he said. “With the other drugs [heroin, marijuana and cocaine], you have to grow a plant. … But fentanyl is produced in a laboratory, it’s produced clandestinely. It’s just chemicals mixed together.”
The energy dispute centers on Mexican policies that allegedly favor the the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). Pictured: the CFE's Huexca Thermoelectric Plant in Morelos. (Gobierno de Morelos)
The federal government has proposed additional talks with its United States and Canadian counterparts to resolve differences over Mexico’s nationalistic energy policies as it strives to avoid an escalation of the dispute.
In July, both the U.S. and Canada requested dispute settlement consultations with Mexico, arguing that the Mexican government is violating the USMCA trade pact with policies that favor state-owned energy companies over private and foreign ones, including many that generate renewable energy.
No resolution was reached in an initial 75-day period of consultations, allowing the U.S. and Canada to request a dispute panel to settle the case, but the three countries agreed to continue talks past the Oct. 3 deadline.
As part of that process, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro met with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The Mexican and U.S. delegations, led by Economy Secretary Raquel Buenrostro and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai respectively, met on Thursday in the U.S. capital. (Twitter @AmbassadorTai)
According to an Economy Ministry (SE) statement, Buenrostro proposed establishing “trinational working groups” that would meet in December and early January to “deal with the different aspects of the energy consultations.”
“If this plan is carried out satisfactorily, the progress could be presented at the North American Leaders’ Summit to be held in our country on Jan. 9 and 10, 2023,” the SE said.
“It was highlighted that Mexico seeks to reconcile differences in the consultation phase, without the need of reaching an arbitration panel and [while] guaranteeing national sovereignty.”
If a panel ruled in favor of the U.S. and Canada, those two countries could impose punitive tariffs on Mexican imports.
The SE statement said that Buenrostro — a former tax agency chief who became Economy Minister in October — told Tai that Mexico “has the will to build tangible and mutually satisfactory solutions to all issues,” especially the energy conflict.
“The Economy Ministry team extended an invitation to the team of the Office of the United States Trade Representative to hold the third round of energy consultations in Mexico City in the coming days,” it added.
The ministry also said that Buenrostro expressed Mexico’s willingness to attend to “all aspects” of the energy consultations, “prioritizing those in which a solution can be found more quickly.”
In its own statement, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said that Tai “underscored the urgency of prompt and meaningful progress in our ongoing consultations under the USMCA regarding Mexico’s energy measures and Mexico’s enforcement of its fisheries-related environmental laws.”
The trade officials also discussed Mexico’s decision to phase out genetically modified corn imports and the enforcement of laws regulating fisheries. (Christophe Maertens via Unsplash)
Tai also “reiterated the importance of the full implementation of the USMCA’s prohibition on the importation of goods made with forced labor” and “stressed the importance of avoiding any disruption in U.S. corn exports to Mexico, including for both feed and human consumption, and adherence to a science- and risk-based regulatory approval process for all agricultural biotechnology products in Mexico,” according to the statement issued by her office.
United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with President López Obrador in Mexico City on Monday, and subsequently released a statement saying that he expressed the “United States Government’s and our producers’ deep concerns around … López Obrador’s 2020 decree to phase out the use and importation of biotech corn and other biotechnology products by January 2024.”
“We must find a way forward soon and I emphasized in no uncertain terms that – absent acceptable resolution of the issue – the U.S. Government would be forced to consider all options, including taking formal steps to enforce our legal rights under the USMCA,” Vilsack said.
The SE said that a delegation of Mexican officials will meet with Vilsack in coming days to discuss biotechnology issues.
In addition to phasing out genetically modified corn imports, López Obrador decreed the elimination of the controversial herbicide glyphosate by 2024.
The president said Tuesday that the ban on GM corn imports for human consumption would be implemented as scheduled, but indicated that shipments of such corn for use as livestock feed could continue past 2024 as an analysis into its impact on health — “even when it’s used as fodder” — takes place.
One of 223 pieces returned to Mexico after negotiations with the Netherlands. (SRE)
On Thursday, the Ministry of Culture announced that 223 archeological pieces were returned home to Mexico from the Netherlands, thanks to an agreement with the European country.
According to the Ministry, the repatriated artifacts are already under the protection of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) for analysis, care, conservation and cultural promotion.
An initial inspection of the pieces, carried out by INAH’s experts, confirmed that they are pre-Hispanic artifacts from cultures in western Mexico, the central highlands (also known as the Mexican Altiplano), the Gulf of Mexico and the southeast region of the country. They date from the Mesoamerican Preclassic Period (1200 B.C.-400 B.C.) to the Postclassic Period (A.D. 800-A.D. 1,521).
In the repatriation ceremony, Foreign Affairs Ministry official Bernardo Aguilar Calvo expressed the Mexican government’s gratitude to the deputy ambassador of the Netherlands in Mexico, Anne Le Guellec, for her collaboration in the recovery of the pieces.
A pre-Hispanic figurine, one of the items repatriated to Mexico. (SRE)
In turn, the deputy ambassador recognized the positive trend in the international arena to return cultural and heritage objects to their original communities, based on the principles of ethics and respect.
Also present in the ceremony was SRE’s deputy legal consultant, Salvador Tinajero, who described the Netherlands’ support as invaluable to fight illicit trafficking of archaeological and cultural objects.
Mexico’s current administration has prioritized the recovery of national cultural heritage from abroad. According to the national news outlet Aristegui Noticias, around 9,000 national pieces have been recovered since López Obrador took office in December 2018.
As part of the recovery strategy, Mexico has filed lawsuits in different countries against the auction of Mexican pieces. In 2021, the government also launched an international campaign called #MiPatrimonioNoSeToca (#Don’tTouchMyHeritage) promoted by Mexican ambassador in France, Blanca Jiménez Cisneros.
Countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Colombia have joined the campaign as they also try to recover heritage that is illegally sold in foreign countries.
Puebla has several Pueblos Mágicos to enjoy. Cuetzalan is a great spot for architecture, history and indigenous culture. (Sectur)
The season that stretches from Christmas to New Year’s is a popular time of year for locals to escape city life and unwind with a change of scenery. There are staple destinations where you are sure to bump into one of your neighbors: Tulum, Acapulco, Cabo, Oaxaca City and San Miguel de Allende are historically fashionable holiday havens.
If you’d like to go somewhere a bit more tranquil that still boasts cultural flair, consider the following five options. Not only will they serve to satisfy that travel itch, the chances of bumping into your personal trainer while digging into your fourth tamale are slim to none.
Puebla’s Sierra Norte
This Puebla region is a stunner. Its green and mountainous landscape, dotted with ancient ruins, is sure to please any outdoor enthusiast. This is also the spot to celebrate holidays and traditions in a most authentic manner. And in case you were wondering, the entire state of Puebla is a culinary goldmine.
Zacatlán, Puebla’s Tulimán Falls is the second highest waterfall in Mexico. It’s inside a nature park with gorgeous views and a variety of activities, including archery and zip-lining.
There are seven Pueblos Mágicos in this region, and each showcases a distinct personality.
Bird lovers will appreciate Pahuatlán, well-known among birders as a hotspot for seeing Puebla’s hundreds of extremely colorful avian inhabitants. The Mirador de Ahila, a nearby lookout point that gives you a panoramic view of the area, is perfect for bird spotting.
An architecture junkie? Check out Cuetzalan, whose name means “place of the quetzals,” although the only “quetzals” left in Puebla are the performers of the Quetzal Dance, an folkloric tradition believed to be one of the oldest surviving ones in Mexico. This charming town feels like walking into Mexico’s colonial past, in large part due to cloud forest surrounding it and its colonial-era buildings.
Traveling with family? Picturesque Zacatlán offers everything from ziplining to museum hopping, during which you can sip on a homemade cider (some of it alcoholic) cultivated from the surrounding apple orchards it’s known for. The town is also filled with modern mosaics made by local artists. Check out nearby Tulimán Falls for the ziplining inside a park that affords amazing views.
In Oaxaca, they have it all: beaches, colorful flora and fauna and picturesque urban areas steeped in Mexico’s history. (Creative Commons)
Oaxaca
The traditional festivals of Oaxaca city make it a bustling destination for tourists during the holidays, which is why we suggest bypassing the quaint and colorful city altogether and beelining it for the beach.
Despite its rising popularity among the international crowd, the coast of Oaxaca is still a more restful alternative to hotspots like Cancún, Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta. If the beach is not your scene, maybe a nighttime boat ride through a bioluminescent bay will do? And wildlife aficionados will be thrilled to know that turtle-nesting season is in full swing through January.
Other attractions include surfing, hiking, whale watching, fresh fish for lunch or simply lounging with a good book.
Holbox
If you’re feeling a more Caribbean vibe, this tiny island just might be the ticket. While you may have to deal with throngs of would-be beachgoers and partiers in and around the Cancún airport, hang tight and keep your eyes on the prize: from the airport, you’ll need to make a two-hour escape north to the town of Chiquila, where you’ll hop on a ferry and hop off in paradise.
Holbox is whimsical and charming and especially quiet over Christmas. The car-free, lackadaisical culture lends itself sweetly to long, lazy days on the beach.
If lounging on a hammock in crystal-clear waters isn’t your jam, fret not. You can be active here, despite the island’s small size.
Sign up for a day or night (or both!) of snorkeling or a kayaking experience in the bioluminescent bay. Join a street art walking tour, explore the endemic wildlife on a Three Islands boat tour or try your hand at kitesurfing with some private lessons.
Need to sunbathe but not surrounded by drunk tourists? In late December, it’s peaceful in Holbox. (Photo: Depositphotos)
Valle de Guadalupe
As the rest of Mexico flocks to the coastline, why not head slightly inland where you can immerse in Baja’s laid-back vibes and sip wine without the usual gaggle of snowbirds, where the weather is temperate yet the sun is forever shining?
Valle de Guadalupe isn’t polished. It isn’t flashy. It’s raw, earthy and lawless in its approach to wine tourism. New restaurants are popping up frequently, and wine quality is constantly improving.
The landscape is gorgeous, with rolling hills of vineyards against a backdrop of beautiful blue sky. Outside of remarkable Mexican wines and fantastic food, there isn’t much to do, but that’s the beauty of it.
Consider this excursion a period of downtime, where you can fully enjoy the people you’re with and the libations you’re savoring.
Colorful Campeche is the perfect warm place to take it easy during the hectic holiday season. (Photo: Depositphotos)
Campeche
Utterly overlooked by the international crowd, Campeche is brimming with culture, museums and Maya undertones. This pastel-hued seaside town was once a pirate’s treasure trove and, as a result, is surrounded by fortresses.
The charming downtown requires just two days of sightseeing, so you can devote substantial time to exploring outside the city. Within just a three-hour drive, you can visit mind-blowing Maya archaeological sites and biospheres like Edzná, Calakmul and Balakmu; the easygoing fisherman’s village of Isla Arena; the pink flamingos in Celestún; and the cenote in Miguel Colorado.
This holiday season, leave the crowds behind and give yourself the gift of a vacation in Mexico’s many off-the-beaten-path treasures.
Bethany Platanella is a travel writer and contributor toMexico News Daily. To find out more about Bethany, visit her website.
At the Costa Verde International School in Sayulita, Nayarit, the school’s population of 190 students is these days split about 50/50 between Mexican and foreign students. (Photo: Costa Verde School)
Mexico has become an increasingly popular place to live for retirees and remote workers from around the world. According to the latest figures from the federal statistics agency INEGI (2020), more than 1.2 million foreigners live in Mexico — nearly 300,000 more than a decade ago. But did you know Mexico is also a hot relocation spot for families with school-aged children?
While Mexico doesn’t publish data on the family makeup of its foreign population, the number of extranjero families living here appears to be significant and growing: just look at the number of Facebook groups and blogs dedicated to families living in or immigrating to Mexico. Visit any school, plaza, café or mercado in an expat enclave, and you are bound to find parents and kids of various nationalities integrating everywhere into daily Mexican life.
“It’s the best move we could have ever made,” said Jason Hartman, who moved to Michoacán from Los Angeles. “Here I am less stressed. I don’t work 60-hour weeks just to get by.”
“The trend used to be that foreign families would come for just part of the year or a few months and then return to their home countries. In the past two to three years, we have seen more families stay here permanently,” said Erika Ramírez Gamero, director of the Costa Verde International School in Sayulita, Nayarit, where the school’s population of 190 students is split about 50/50 between Mexican and foreign students from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, France and Tahiti.
The school’s story is reflective of what’s happening in several locations in Mexico. “Since the pandemic, we have seen a huge influx of foreign families,” says Amber Nieto, who grew up in San Miguel de Allende with a Mexican father and American mother and runs a website and consulting service for families. “At my daughter’s school, Academia Internacional, we had 46 new families … and there are 16 nationalities represented currently.”
Erika Ramírez Gamero, director of the Costa Verde School in Sayulita, Nayarit, says her young students are increasingly foreigners living in Mexico. (Costa Verde School)
Earlier this year, Mexico News Daily conducted a survey of foreign families in Mexico to learn more about this growing demographic. We heard from 28 families who had immigrated to Mexico over the last 15 years.
That data, compared with data from a 2017 survey of 43 other immigrant families, is helping paint a clearer picture of where families are from, where they are moving to, and why they moved, and to some degree, how that’s changing.
Where are families from?
Of the 28 families that responded to our most recent survey, 21 (or 75%) are from the U.S. The other 25% hail from Canada (3), England (2), Israel (1) and Kuala Lampur (1).
The earlier survey in 2017 specifically targeted U.S. families. Of the 43 respondents, 42 were from the U.S. and only one was from Canada. In both surveys, the families from the U.S. hail from all over the country.
Jason Hartman, right, moved from Los Angeles, California, to Jacona De Plancarte, Michoacán, with his wife and children. They’ve never regretted the move, he said.
While our results skewed toward U.S. immigrants, relocation specialists told us that they’ve seen interest in moving to Mexico rising from families all over the world.
“Prior to the pandemic, 99% of my clientele was from the U.S.,” said relocation consultant Katie O’Grady. “Now I’m seeing more interest from Canadian, Australian and even Irish families. And where before, most of my U.S. clientele was from the West Coast, New England and Colorado, now I’m seeing more interest from families in the Midwest and southern states.”
San Miguel de Allende-based relocation consultant Sonia Díaz is seeing similar changes.
“The majority of my clients are from the U.S. and Canada, but I am seeing more interest from people in Europe, Australia, Central and South America, Asia and South Africa,” she said.
Sonia Díaz, whose San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, relocation consultant, says the number of young families she’s dealt with has tripled.
“At one time, nearly every person was retired,” she said. “But the number of young families I have as clients has at least tripled since I started relocation consulting services 10 years ago.”
Where are families moving to?
The families we heard from are gravitating toward coastal cities like Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán and also Mexico City — the latter which has long been popular with expats in general and is becoming more and more popular with people from the U.S. and digital nomads.
These destinations match findings by INEGI this month. It found that in the first nine months of 2022, the top destinations for new temporary visas granted were for people with addresses in Mexico City, Jalisco (mainly Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Chapala), Quintana Roo, Baja California Sur and Yucatán, all of which have coastal locations.
Many respondents told us they’d moved to coastal areas, like Puerto Vallarta, but we also heard from expat families in urban interior cities and even small villages. (Photo: Taylor Beach/Unsplash)
Our survey found people are choosing to live all over the country — from small fishing villages to megacities to rural communities in the middle of the country.
A good example of this diversity is the Dempseys, a family that moved in 2019 from the U.S. state of Virginia with their three children, three horses and five dogs to an avocado farm in the small community of La Escondida, Michoacán. They wanted to be closer to the father’s side of the family, who are Mexican.
La Escondido’s population in the 2020 census was 774.
The majority of respondents to both surveys came from the U.S, but where they came from in the U.S. varied greatly. Hover over the map or use the search box to see where.
Why are families immigrating to Mexico?
According to our two surveys, there are a number of reasons why families are moving to Mexico, some which have not changed, such as seeking better weather to reducing stress to finding a lower cost of living. But new reasons have risen to the top spots between the surveys of 2017 and 2022.
“There have been waves of immigration,” said Katie O’Grady, relocation consultant. “First with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and now during the pandemic.”
In the 2017 survey, almost all of the top five reasons families moved to Mexico were geared toward personal fulfillment, such as spending more time with family and experiencing Mexican culture. Our 2022 survey showed the top reasons concerned more practical quality-of-life issues: No. 1 was escaping politics at home. In the 2017 survey, wanting to escape politics was a factor, but not among the top five.
“There have been waves of immigration,” said O’Grady. “First with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and now during the pandemic. The biggest difference I see now is that most of my clients are moving because of political discomfort, even more so than before.”
Move to Mexico consultant Katie O’Grady says she’s noticed more families among her clients and that they are from more places: beyond those from the U.S. and Canada, she’s seen Australian and Irish families emigrate. (Photo: Facebook)
Politics was a big factor for Lee Wampler, who moved with his family from Johnson City, Tennessee, to Oaxaca city, Oaxaca, in 2022.
“The U.S. has become a toxic country with all the gun violence, political divide and racism,” he wrote in his survey response.
“We have seen in the U.S. [that] there are areas that have become more violent or harder for families to live. They feel safe here,” said Ramírez of her foreign students’ families.
“And now with the pandemic and things opening up for jobs, families have the option to move to another country more easily. It has reduced the number of families that leave. More people are staying here longer.”
Between 2017 and 2022, respondents’ reasons why they came to live in Mexico changed from those geared to personal fulfillment to more practical ones like a lower cost of living.
One survey respondent who wished to remain anonymous wrote, “We left Canada in June 2022 due to the political climate and divisiveness. We wanted to live where the culture is rich, people are kind and [where] we could have better health all around and we could raise our children to be bilingual and bicultural.”
In the 2022 responses, seeking a lower cost of living was also a big driver for families making the move, the second most popular reason given in our most recent survey, compared to fourth most popular in 2017. A lower cost of living was No. 3 overall between both surveys.
Amber Nieto concurs that the main reasons given for moving to Mexico are “the better quality of family life and lower cost of living,” adding, “People can have a slower paced lifestyle here. When you have more time, you create stronger family bonds, and create a stronger sense of community.”
Although he came to Mexico in 2015, cost of living was already a major factor for Jason Hartman, who moved here from Los Angeles, California, to Jacona De Plancarte, Michoacán, with his wife, 3-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son.
Amber Nieto, center, with her family in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Nieto grew up here, the daughter of a Mexican father and an American mother, and is bringing up a second generation in Mexico.
“When our son was born, the want of going to Mexico became a need,” he said. “I was running the numbers of what my wife and I were earning at our jobs. And after rent, bills, a respectable but not ostentatious food budget and care costs for two kids — at the end of the month, we would just about break even,” he said.
“I shared what I found with my wife and told her we either have to move out of California to a more affordable place, or I need to change positions with a company that pays more,” Hartman said. “She brought up the idea of moving to Mexico, where her family was from and where we had visited on multiple occasions and loved.”
The Hartmans are now coming up on the eighth anniversary of their move to Mexico in February.
“It’s the best move we could have ever made,” Hartman said. “Here I am less stressed. I don’t work 60-hour weeks just to get by. Now I work when I want to and save more money than I did while in L.A.,” he said.
While many respondents moved to coastal areas of Mexico, a surprising number are living in small interior cities and even tiny communities.
Ties to Mexico
Our survey also found that a good number of families immigrating to Mexico already have ties to the country, although the numbers decreased from the earlier survey to the most recent.
Forty percent of respondents from our 2017 survey and 29% from our 2022 survey cited a connection to Mexico: a Mexican partner or spouse; extended family in Mexico, Mexican heritage, or Mexican-born children.
That was certainly true for the Dempseys, the Hartmans, as well as for Tara Gray, whose husband is Mexican.
Gray and her husband met in England — she is English — and moved to Mexico with their three young daughters in 2009 to be closer to family.
“People can have a slower paced lifestyle here,” says Amber Nieto. “When you have more time, you create stronger family bonds, and create a stronger sense of community.”
They first moved to Cuernavaca, Morelos, since her husband’s family would be relatively nearby in Mexico City. Now they live in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro, where her kids attend the Instituto Bilingüe Victoria.
“I had always known I didn’t want to live in the UK,” Gray said. “I always knew I would live someplace else. So when the recession hit and our business suffered, we found we had to start from scratch. We decided to move to Mexico.”
“I wanted my kids to be a part of a big Mexican family. My husband is one of nine children.”
For Gray, the choice to move to Mexico and stay, despite the challenges her family has faced, boils down to ensuring that their daughters were raised in a safe and nurturing environment with good educational opportunities, which they found in the Pueblo Mágico of Tequisquiapan.
“We are committed to staying. We are very happy. We love where we are,” Gray said.
Debbie Slobe is a writer and communications strategist based in Chacala, Nayarit. She blogs at Mexpatmama.com and is a senior program director at Resource Media. Find her on Instagram and Facebook.
